Crimp machine

ABSTRACT

AN PORTABLE DEVICE HAS RADIALLY MOVABLE JAWS FOR CRIMPING A HOSE FITTING SLEEVE TO PERMANENTLY ATTACH A HOSE END FITTING ONTO AN END OF A FLEXIBLE HOSE.

March 9, 1971 J. L. GEISMYAN CRIMP MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 29, 1968 INVENTOR.

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J. L GE ISMAN CRIMP MACHINE March 9, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 29, 1968 INVENTOR. $227226 A z/flmvx United States Patent 3,568,494 CRIMP MACHINE James L. Geisman, Van Wert, Ohio, assignor to Aeroquip Corporation, Jackson, Mich. Filed Aug. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 756,332 Int. Cl. B21d 41/00 US. Cl. 72--402 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portable device has radially movable jaws for crimping a hose fitting sleeve to permanently attach a hose end fitting onto an end of a flexible hose.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Reference may be had to the following patents to show the state of the art:

That to C. C. Grotnes 2,291,802; that to F. Hunziker 2,311,663 and that to D. V. Albricht 3,047,043.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention pertains to a portable crimping device comprising a body having an outer and inner spaced cylindrical walls, the inner one of which forms a cylinder for a ram. A piston within the cylinder is secured to a jaw locater having a truncated conical surface at the top in the area in which the jaws are supported. Radial slots in the top of the jaw locater has radial movable jaws mounted therein and retained by a plate which is secured to the top surface of the jaw locater. A crimping ring having a central aperture with a mating truncated conical surface thereon is removably secured upon the outer cylindrical wall of the body by a thread engagement therebetween. A plurality of tension springs are secured to the bottom of the jaw locater and to the bottom of the body between the spaced cylindrical walls thereof for retracting the jaw locater when the fluid delivered to the bottom of the piston is returned to the tank at the end of each crimping operaion. A scale is secured to the plate on the top of the jaw locater and a sleeve with a knurled knob is threaded in an aperture therein for adjustment along the scale. The sleeve has a rod extending therethrough and secured to the top of the inner cylindrical wall of the body for retaining it in fixed relationship. When the knurled knob after adjustment reaches the top of the rod during the crimping operation the fluid to the cylinder is shut off by the operator and returned to the tank as indication was provided that the crimping jaws had completed the crimping operation. A pair of handles are secured to the body in diametrically opposite points to permit the device to be carried from one place to another at which the crimping operations are to take place. A hose fitting is inserted in the end of the hose line with a sleeve thereover and the crimping operation on the sleeve performed by the device fixedly retains the fitting to the hose line end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a crimping device embodying features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, taken on the line 2-2 thereof before the crimping operation is performed;

FIG. 3 is a view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2, taken at the end of the crimping operation, and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 3, taken on the line 4-4 thereof.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A portable crimping device 11 has a body 12 which is formed to provide an outer cylindrical wall 13 and a spaced, shorter inner cylindrical wall 14. The cylindrical wall 14 forms a cylinder for a piston 15 to which fluid is conducted through an aperture 16 in the base 17 of the body. A line 18 has an end fitting 19 which is threaded into the end of the aperture 16. The piston 15 is sealed to the inner surface of the cylindrical wall 14 by a sealing ring 21 which may be an O-ring or the like. The outer cylindrical wall 13 has heavy hand grips 22 disposed in diametrical opposite relation to each other by which the device may be carried. The upper end of the wall 13 has an external thread 23 thereon engaged by an internal thread 24 on a top crimping ring 25. The crimping ring has an internal aperture 26 of truncated conical shape for forcing a plurality of jaws 27 radially inward thereof.

The jaws are supported in slots 28 in the top of a jaw locater 29 which is secured to the piston 15 by a screw 31. The outer surface of the jaw locater has a truncated conical surface 32 to provide clearance with the conical surface of the aperture 26 of the crimping ring 25 when extended. A plate 33 is secured to the top of the jaw locater 29 by a plurality of screws 34 for enclosing the top of the slots 28 and the top of the jaws 27. One of the screws 34 clamps a bottom flange of a scale 35 in fixed relation to the top of the plate 33. A pin 36 is threaded into a threaded aperture 37 in the wall of the cylinder 14 in fixed relation thereto. A sleeve 38 extends over the pin 36 and is adjustably threaded into a threaded aperture 39 in the jaw locater 29 for a considerable length thereof. The top of the sleeve has a knurled knob 41 forming a gauge relative to the top of the pin 36. The knob is positioned 'by adjusting the sleeve 38 upward or downwardly in the jaw locater 29 relative to the scale 35. The extent of radial movement of the jaws 27 for completing the crimping operation is indicated when the top of a knurled knob 41 reaches the top of the pin 36.

The jaws 27 are rectangular in cross section having the ends thereof located adjacent to the truncated conical wall 26 of the same slope and with an arcuate cross section substantially equal to the circle of smallest diameter at the top of the wall. This provides a line contact with the wall 26 throughout the length of movement of the jaws therealong. The working end of the jaws, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, have sloping side surfaces 43 and sloping end surfaces 44. The surfaces produced the shaped recess in the sleeve 51, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 3. The sloping ends 44 of the jaws will produce the top and bottom converging surfaces 45 while the side surfaces 43 will produce the side converging surfaces 46. This deformation of the sleeve 51 forces the uncompressible elastorneric material of the hose line against the annular ribs of the fitting with such force as to provide a seal therebetween as well as prevent separation under high pressure. Any type of fluid may be employed for moving the piston 15 outwardly of the cylinder 14 which may be a standard supply of fluid or that provided by a motor-operated pump or even a hand-type of pump. In practice the maximum pressure required at any time for the device illustrated would be approximately 10,000 psi.

In the device herein illustrated eight of the jaws 27 are used for the crimping operation. More or less may be used depending upon the diameter of the sleeve 51 to be crimped. In the present instance, two sets of eight jaws are provided with the device. One set is used for crimping a sleeve to hose having diameters of A",

3 and /2", the other set for crimping a sleeve on hoses of and 1". This is the usual range of hose sizes employed in the art and when larger hose sizes are to be connected by the crimping operation to a fitting, a larger diameter crimping device will be Supplied.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the knurled knob 41 is adjusted upwardly or downwardly relative to the scale 35 to locate the knurled knob from the end of the rod 36 a distance equal to the upward movement of the jaw locator required to produce the amount of radial movement to the jaws 27. Thereafter the crimping operation is performed by inserting the end of a hose line 52 with a fitting 48 thereon within an aperture 49 in the center of the jaw locater 29 with a sleeve 51 located over the hose line end. Fluid is directed through the aperture 16 to the bottom of the piston 15 which raises the jaw locater 29 to move the jaws 27 inwardly until the top of the knurled knob 41 is even with the top of the pin 36. The operator operates the supply valve (not shown) to direct the fluid to the tank and permit the jaw locater 29 to be returned along with the piston 15 to retracted position, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

To assist in such retractions, a plurality of tension springs 53 are connected between the bottom of the jaw locater 29 and the base 17 of the body 12 between the a cylindrical walls 13' and 14 thereof. The end of the springs '53 are screwed upon nuts 54 and 55 having an external thread onto which the end turns of the spring are screwed. A screw 56 extends through an aperture in each nut 54 and is threaded onto a threaded aperture 57 extending inwardly of the bottom face on the jaw locater 29. The nut 55 has a threaded aperture into which a screw 58 extends for securing the nut in an aperture 58 in the base 17. This securely anchors the ends of the springs 53 between the base 17 and the jaw locater 29 and supplies a force for returning the jaw locater and piston 15 to retracted position. It is to be understood that a plurality of the springs 53 are employed between the base and the jaw locaters herein illustrated as being three in number, as illustrated in FIG. 1. It will be noted that an annular recess 59 is provided in the bottom face of the jaw locater 29 which receives the upper end of the cylindrical wall 14 when the piston 15 is in the retracted position.

In FIG. 3, it will be noted that the knurled knob 41 has its top surface in alignment with the top surface of the pin 36 to indicate that the crimping operation has been completed. At this time the springs 53 have been tensioned to provide a retractive force to the jaw locater 29 and the piston 15. An O-ring 61 is provided in the crimp ring 25 at the base of the threads 24 to provide 4 a seal with the upper end of the body 12. When the set of jaws are to be changed it is only necessary to unscrew the crimping ring 25 from the body and exchange the jaws 27 and rescrew the crimping ring 25 onto the body. This operation is accomplished with a minimum amount of time.

What is claimed is:

1. A crimping machine comprising a body having an open end, a jaw locater movable within said body and having a portion extending outwardly of the open end of said body, said locater having a centrally located aperture for receiving an object to be crimped and radial slots located in said portion, each being in communication with said aperture, a crimping jaw slidably disposed in each slot and having an inner crimping face and an outer sloping face, a crimping ring removably fixed to said body at said bodys open end and having an inner frusto-conical surface substantially parallel to the sloping faces of said jaws, and means for moving said locater outwardly of said body wherein the engagement of the sloping faces of said jaws against said crimping ring moves said jaws uniformly radially inwardly of said aperture to provide a crimping action to said object to be crimped.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein a piston and cylinder combination is disposed within said body beneath said locater, said piston being connected to said locater and said cylinder being connected to a source of fluid power.

3. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said body and said crimping ring are generally cylindrical and said crimping ring is supported on said body by a threaded engagement therebetween.

4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said locater is provided with a cover plate secured thereto and providing an upper closure for said slots.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,552,162 9/1925 Huff 72--402 1,908,521 5/1933 Lindgren 72-393 2,311,662 2/1943 Hunziker 29-237 FOREIGN PATENTS 732,810 4/1966 Canada.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner M. J. KEENAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 29--237 

